# Berth vs LocalAI

> LocalAI and Berth score within a point of each other for local inference, 68.5 and 67.6 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-28

LocalAI and Berth score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 68.5 (B) and 67.6 (B). Berth leads on transparency & trust. Both do local inference.

- Berth: grade B, 67.6/100, rank #283 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/berth.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/berth.json
- LocalAI: grade B, 68.5/100, rank #242 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/localai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/localai.json
- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md
- All 229 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Berth (B)

Good for: Someone running several GPU programs (llama.cpp, llama-swap, Ollama, vLLM, ComfyUI, games) on one NVIDIA card who wants them to take turns, and agents that need to ask for the card.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 53

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where LocalAI loses 3 points for them

Watch for: First released on 11 October 2026 and called alpha. Windows, AMD and multiple GPUs are experimental, and the gateway is a preview

### LocalAI (B)

Good for: An owner who wants one local server for chat, embeddings, reranking, speech, images and video behind APIs their existing OpenAI, Anthropic or Ollama clients already speak, on almost any accelerator.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 84 against 76
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 69
- Security & auth, 62 against 51

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Berth | LocalAI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 76 | 84 | LocalAI +8 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 81 | LocalAI +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 71 | Berth +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 62 | LocalAI +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 80 | LocalAI +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 53 | Berth +15 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **67.6 · B** | **68.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Berth | LocalAI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Trevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub) | Ettore Di Giacinto and the LocalAI team |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE file | MIT. Each backend image wraps an upstream engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, diffusers and others) under that engine's own licence |
| Tools exposed | none | 42 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 245 stars | 48k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Berth.** Berth coordinates one NVIDIA card between engines, ComfyUI and games, grants a lease only after the driver shows memory free, and gives agents a skill, JSON output and a keyed loopback gateway. It is 17 days old, alpha and maintained by one developer, with Windows and AMD experimental and no machine-readable API spec.

**LocalAI.** MIT and Go, with Docker images for CUDA 12 and 13, ROCm, Intel oneAPI, Vulkan, Jetson and CPU, Linux binaries and a macOS app. No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin.

## Before you call either

### Berth

1. Run `berth status --format json` before starting, stopping or switching any GPU engine. If berthd is unreachable, no engine is protected
2. Never kill a process to free VRAM. Ask for the card with `berth run`, `berth hold` or a gateway request, and report stowaways to the user
3. Send gateway requests to http://127.0.0.1:9799/v1 with `Authorization: Bearer $(berth key)`, and use `"stream": true` for cold starts of up to minutes
4. On a 503, read the `code` and wait for `Retry-After`. A pinned holder (a game or `berth hold`) answers 409 to stop and is the user's call
5. Ask the user before `berth reclaim LEASE --yes`, any berth.toml edit or `berth update`. Each changes the node

### LocalAI

1. Send `Authorization: Bearer <key>` when the operator has set keys. A 401 means the instance has auth on
2. Read /.well-known/localai.json and /api/instructions first. Both answer without a key and list what this instance can do
3. Back off on 429 and 503 for the Retry-After seconds. A 503 can mean the model is still loading
4. Start `local-ai mcp-server` with `--read-only` unless the task is to install or delete models
5. Take model names from /v1/models. Each instance names its own

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Berth or LocalAI?

LocalAI and Berth score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 68.5 (B) and 67.6 (B). Berth leads on transparency & trust.

### Do Berth and LocalAI need an API key?

Berth needs an API key. LocalAI takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Berth and LocalAI without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Berth. LocalAI runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed.

### Are Berth and LocalAI open source?

Yes. Berth is open source (Apache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE file). LocalAI is open source (MIT. Each backend image wraps an upstream engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, diffusers and others) under that engine's own licence).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "berth", "b": "localai"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare berth localai`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/berth.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/localai.json

## Other comparisons with Berth or LocalAI

- [AnythingLLM vs Berth](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-berth.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-localai.md)
- [Berth vs BitRun](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-bitrun.md)
- [Berth vs Docker Model Runner](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-docker-model-runner.md)
- [Berth vs Foundry Local](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-foundry-local.md)
- [Berth vs Core](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ghost-core.md)
- [Berth vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-gpt4all.md)
- [Berth vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-jan.md)
- [Berth vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-khoj.md)
- [Berth vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Berth vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lemonade.md)
- [Berth vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [Berth vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [Berth vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [Berth vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ollama.md)
- [Berth vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Berth vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [Berth vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [Berth vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-vllm.md)
- [BitRun vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-localai.md)
- [Docker Model Runner vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-localai.md)
- [Foundry Local vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-localai.md)
- [Core vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-localai.md)
- [GPT4All vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-localai.md)
- [Jan vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-localai.md)
- [Khoj vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-localai.md)
- [Lemonade vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-localai.md)
- [llama.cpp vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-localai.md)
- [LM Studio vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-localai.md)
- [LocalAI vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [LocalAI vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-ollama.md)
- [LocalAI vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-open-webui.md)
- [LocalAI vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [LocalAI vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [LocalAI vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-vllm.md)
- [LocalAI vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-underdog.md)

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